Avoid property fraud

October 12, 2017

Since September 2009, HM Land Registry has prevented 254 fraudulent applications being registered. The most common fraud is when someone pretends to be you and mortgages or even sells your property without your knowledge.

A simple and cost-effective way to counter this activity is to register with the award-winning Property Alert service. This is managed by HM Land Registry. You can:

monitor a property already registered with HM Land Registry

monitor the property of a relative, you don’t have to own a property to set up an alert

The property you want to monitor must be situated in England or Wales and registered with HM Land Registry.

You must create a Property Alert account to use the service

You will receive a HM Land Registry email (please check spam inbox) to enable you to verify your email details

You must then sign in to your account to add a property

Email alerts are sent when official searches and applications are received against a monitored property

If you receive an alert about activity that seems suspicious you should take swift action. The alert email will signpost you to who to contact.

You don't have to own a property to set up an alert

The same property can be monitored by different people.

Property, especially flats/apartments, can be registered with two titles. Blocks of flats are often owned by companies (Freehold), and the person owning the individual flat (Leasehold). When registering for this service please choose Leasehold title for individual flats/apartments.

You can also use the service if you are not online. Call the Property Alert team on 0300 006 0478.

Once you have registered your properties, HM Land Registry will send you an email alert each time there is significant activity on the property you are monitoring, such as if a new mortgage is taken out against it.

The alert will tell you the type of activity (such as an application to change the register or a notification that an application may be due), who the applicant is and the date and time it has been received.

Not all alert emails will mean fraudulent activity. If you don’t think the alert email is about any suspicious activity, you don’t need to do anything.

Signing up to Property Alert won’t automatically stop fraud from happening. You will need to decide if the activity on the property is potentially fraudulent and act quickly if so. The alert email will tell you who to contact.

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